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Wednesday, December 14, 2016

They are so cute. How can you not buy one or two or three?

Many of you reading this article have been diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes or know someone with Diabetes. Having type 2 Diabetes means your body has developed a resistance to insulin and, thus, your blood sugar is higher than it should be. Most likely, you’ll take daily doses of metformin to increase your insulin sensitivity, exercise to lower your blood sugar and, in some cases, inject the insulin you need.

Having struggled with Diabetes for a while, I’ve grown used to the tiresome blood sugar tests and to the routine of taking medication. I’ve also tried my very best to stay on a rigorous, sugar-free diet, which I’ve achieved with various degrees of success according to my mood, my cravings and, I’ll admit it, to my own sweet tooth.

Christmas cookies, why can’t you be harmless?

But if someone allowed me to choose a final Diabetes-free week - without worries about carb-counting, blood sugar highs and lows - it would be Christmas. There is nothing as hard as resisting the mash potatoes on the table, the yummy-looking sugar cookies your neighbor kindly offered, the nice box of chocolates people are sharing at the office, the pumpkin pie on your best
friend’s Instagram or Google Plus, the sweet potato pie on your favorite Facebook page, the pecan pie your mom
excels at. Food’s everywhere! And I am the original Cookie Monster as O have mentioned many times--one for each hand please!!

And it seems that the more you avoid it, the harder it gets: how can you be so rude as not to taste everything that’s being offered to you? How can you resist your sugar cravings all the time? How can a little, tiny Christmas treat do you so much harm? Some people eat a whole box of them and don’t have to worry! I know I’m not alone. A lot of you must feel the same. So what can we do to make Christmas time easier?

Pie.

Oscar Wilde once said that the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield it - and that’s why I’ve given up resisting everything. I’ve found that if I don’t allow myself even one little treat, the frustration alone will make me crave them even more. In previous years I let my cravings grow so much that when I finally gave in, I ate too much. Worse - I often ate things that looked good, but weren’t as tasty as I thought they would be.

This year, I’ve decided to give in and eat a small chocolate piece each day after dinner. And when I say little, I mean it - European portions. Since I still have to clean up the kitchen afterwards and take care of the house, I use the chocolate calories almost immediately and I do not get sugar highs. On Christmas day, I’ve decided to allow myself only one dessert - my favorite pie, PUMPKIN which will satisfy me more than anything else. And you, how are you coping with the holidays this year?

Bravo, it sounds like you have things under control! I haven't began to make it there yet. I have no willpower or discipline. I know I must as the shot can't do every it's self by a long shot. Maybe if I say 1 desert too that will help me not to feel deprived. I think that feeling of you can't makes me somehow want to prove I can but one is never the end for me with that way of thinking.

It's so hard not to feel deprived, especially at this time of year. I like your idea of allowing yourself just a small treat. I have found that the longer I go without sugar, the fewer cravings I have and it gets a lot easier to just say no. :-) Enjoy the holidays!

Diabetes runs in our family. My mom is a Type 2 and it is difficult for her to stay away from sweets, especially when she is just so good at baking. We have to limit our sugar intake, and prefer sugar free or use stevia sweeteners instead.

I do not have diabetes, but my blood sugar does drop (hypoglycemic). I try not to eat a bunch of sweets, I rarely do. It usually happens after I eat and I have to eat a piece of candy to bring me back up. I know if this feels terrible when my sugar drops, I can't imagine when yours rises! Thank you for the education here!

I just started medicine for diabetes in the past year. The only thing I really try to limit is pop, that seems to be the biggest sugar trigger for me. Otherwise I find it is too hard to completely get rid of it...when I was "clean eating" I had a bag of dark chocolate hersey's chocolate chips in my cupboard and would pop 5 or 6 in my mouth when I felt any cravings. I would jsut let them melt and enjoy it...I don't like dark chocolate but these were wonderful!